Bob Dylan Announces New ‘Bootleg Series’ Focusing on Gospel Years, ‘Trouble No More’

The 13th volume of Bob Dylan's acclaimed Bootleg Series will focus on his controversial and often misunderstood gospel era from the late '70s and early '80s.

Trouble No More – The Bootleg Series Vol. 13 / 1979-1981 is scheduled for release on Nov. 3, and like the past few volumes in the series, the collection will be available in several different configurations, including a deluxe nine-disc box.

Six of the eight CDs collect live tracks from the period, including 1980 shows in Toronto and a 1981 concert in London. Of the 100 previously unreleased live and studio cuts on Trouble No More, 14 songs have never been officially released by Dylan. Only “Ye Shall Be Changed,” which first appeared on 1991's debut set, The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, has been available before.

Two discs of rare and unreleased material include soundchecks, outtakes and unreleased songs recorded during the period between Dylan's 1979 album, Slow Train Coming, and 1981's Shot of Love. (Saved, from 1980, was the middle album in the gospel trilogy.)

There's also a DVD featuring a new feature-length movie, Trouble No More: A Musical Film, that documents the period with live clips. You can see the full track listing for the deluxe edition of Trouble No More – The Bootleg Series Vol. 13 / 1979-1981 at Dylan's official website.

Following 1978's Street-Legal, Dylan embarked on a spiritual journey over three albums that divided and confused fans. Most of the songs focused on Christianity, which Dylan had converted to shortly before Slow Train Coming's release. While that album managed to make it to No. 3, Saved and Shot of Love didn't fare as well, giving Dylan his worst-charting records since 1964's Another Side of Bob Dylan. In 1983, Dylan abandoned the religious themes on the more traditional Infidels.

In addition to the deluxe box, Trouble No More will be available in two-CD and four-LP configurations that collect the first two discs from the larger version.